Equality body perpetuating idea 'you can be a man in Great Britain - but a woman if you travel to Northern Ireland' - Beattie

​The public body – which enforces aspects of equality law here – wants the High Court to determine “the correct legal approach to take” in the province, after the UK Supreme Court ruled that sex is defined by biology in law.

That decision has been blasted by trans rights activists – who believe that people should be allowed to access single sex services based on how they perceive their own gender.

Locally, unionist parties have argued that the ruling should apply in full in Northern Ireland – and that the law is clear.

UUP justice spokesperson Doug Beattie says the ECNI decision is a “fudge” and “absolutely farcical”.

“They are now perpetuating the idea that you can legally be a man, based on sex at birth, in Great Britain as per the Supreme Court ruling, but if you travel to Northern Ireland, you can legally be a female if you so choose. Their argument for this is based on the Windsor Framework article 2 and throws up all sorts of nonsense regarding travel throughout the UK.

“Where has common sense gone, where has the moral courage to say that sex at birth matters, where is the stability of equality for females within Northern Ireland, where are the sex-based rights; all are being undermined by minority activism and the fear of offending is dominating the ability to do what is right. It is time the UK Government took direct action and used their powers to ensure Northern Ireland remain in line with the rest of the UK as they did with Scotland”, the Upper Bann MLA said.

DUP MP Carla Lockhart said the Supreme Court ruling was “common-sense” and “reaffirmed the importance of sex-based protections”. She said it is “deeply regrettable” that ECNI’s response appears to cast doubt on its implementation.

“The suggestion that EU law should continue to dictate matters of such importance to women’s rights in Northern Ireland is entirely unacceptable”, she said.